ABOUT TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech's Red Raiders (12-10, 6-6), who have dropped two straight games to Colorado and Texas, host Oklahoma State (18-4, 8-4) on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m CT in the 8,174-seat Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. Texas Tech has four regular-season games remaining - two at home and two on the road. The Red Raiders are in a five-way tie for fourth place with Kansas State, Nebraska, Missouri, and Baylor. Oklahoma State is tied with Oklahoma for second place. All-America candidate Cory Carr heads Tech's talented three-guard lineup with a Big 12-leading 23.9 points per game. Rayford Young averages 16.5, while Stan Bonewitz is scoring 12.4. Cliff Owens is among the league's best rebounders with 7.8 per game while scoring 9.9 points. Freshman Johnny Phillips, averaging 5.0 points and 3.0 rebounds, has improved since becoming a starter 10 games ago.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE
A balanced Oklahoma State team (18-4, 8-4), with four starters averaging more than 10 points, is tied with Oklahoma for second place in the Big 12 Conference after a 70-66 home win over the Sooners on Saturday. Adrian Peterson (16.6), Desmond Mason (15.5), Brett Robisch (15.4) and Joe Adkins (12.5) have started all 22 games. Point guard Doug Gottlieb, who has started 21 of the 22 games, is leading the Big 12 with 7.0 assists per game. The Cowboys, who began 1997-98 with 11 consecutive wins, have won four straight since an 88-73 loss at Texas Jan. 31. OSU plays back-to-back road games at Tech and Kansas State before finishing the regular season with Texas and Kansas at home.

THE SERIES
After OSU's 66-63 win in Stillwater on Jan. 10, the Cowboys lead the all-time series over Texas Tech, 10-6. Tech has won two of the three Big 12 games between the South Division rivals. The Red Raiders hold a 2-0 edge in Lubbock, including a 70-64 overtime win last season in the Hub City. Tech head coach James Dickey is 2-1 all-time against the Cowboys. OSU head coach Eddie Sutton is 20-10 all-time against Texas Tech, which includes games with Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State.

ALL-AMERICA CANDIDATE CORY CARR
On track to being the Big 12's leading scorer for two consecutive seasons, national player of the year candidate Cory Carr is averaging 23.9 points per game overall and 24.4 in league play. The 6-foot-4 Kingsland, Ark., shooting guard has scored 20 or more points 17 times. He has scored 30 or more points five times, including three times in Big 12 games. His career-high 39 points against Southwestern Louisiana are the most scored by any Big 12 player this season. Carr has scored in double figures in 43 consecutive games.

UPCOMING
Texas Tech, playing two of the last three on the road, travels to College Station for its second meeting with the Aggies. Game time Saturday is 12:45 p.m. CT on Big 12 T.V. Tech then plays at Nebraska on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:05 p.m. CT. The Red Raiders conclude the regular season at home Feb. 28 against Oklahoma at 12:45 p.m. CT on Big 12 T.V.

HEAD COACH JAMES DICKEY
A 1976 graduate of Central Arkansas, Texas Tech head men's basketball coach James Dickey is in season number seven guiding the Red Raiders. He has a 131-68 record, a winning percentage of .658. Dickey was named Tech's head coach on April 10, 1991 after serving one year for the Red Raiders as an assistant under longtime coach Gerald Myers. Over the last three-plus seasons, Tech is 81-31 for a .723 winning mark. Dickey has earned district coach of the year honors four times and has been conference coach of the year on three occasions. He has guided Tech to two NCAA Tournaments, including the '96 Sweet 16. Before his arrival at Tech as an assistant coach in 1990-91, Dickey previously worked at Kentucky (1986-89) and Arkansas (1982-85) as an assistant under Eddie Sutton.

LAST TIME OUT
Rayford Young's layup attempt at the buzzer was just short as Texas snapped a five-game losing streak in Lubbock, 82-80. Kris Clack, scored a game-high 26 points, including a key three-pointer with 1:09 left that put the Longhorns up by four points. Clack's missed free throw and a Longhorn turnover opened the door for Tech in the final seconds. UT got help from talented freshmen Chris Mihm and Luke Axtell. Mihm grabbed 17 rebounds and scored 18 points, while Axtell hit four three-pointers en route to 14 points. All five of Texas' starters scored in double figures. For the Red Raiders, Cory Carr scored 19 points, Rayford Young 14, Cliff Owens 12 and Archie Myers 10. The game featured 11 ties and nine lead changes. UT led by six points twice in the first half and led 41-40 at intermission. The Longhorns built a seven-point lead early in the second half thanks to an 8-2 run. Rayford Young's three-pointer, part of a 10-2 Red Raider spurt, gave Tech its first lead of the second half with 11:37 to play. The lead changed hands seven times in the final 12 minutes. Clack, fouled by Carr on a three-point attempt, put UT up for good with three free throws at the 4:33 mark.

TEXAS-TEXAS TECH GAME NOTES

* Cory Carr, held under 20 points for the fifth time in 1997-98, became the third Red Raider to surpass the 1,800-point plateau. * Cory Carr did not go to the free throw line for the first time in almost a year. Carr did not attempt a free throw Feb. 15, 1997 at Baylor. * Texas swept the regular-season series and won in Lubbock for the first time since 1991-92.

* Stan Bonewitz' streak of double-figure games ended at a career-long 10 games. * Cliff Owens returned to the starting lineup after missing the CU game with a concussion. He scored 12 points and added four rebounds in 32 minutes.

* Cory Carr, who played a career-high 50 minutes at Colorado, played 39-plus minutes against the Longhorns.

* Five players tied for the team lead in rebounds with six. The group included Johnny Phillips, Rayford Young, Stan Bonewitz, Da'Mon Roberts and Ross Carmichael.

* Cory Carr had a career-high four steals.

TECH'S TERRIFIC TRIO
Texas Tech's outstanding guard combination of Cory Carr, Stan Bonewitz and Rayford Young are averaging 52.8 of Tech's 78.0 points per game. The trio is accounting for 67.7 percent of the Red Raiders' offensive production. The threesome has hit all but 10 of Tech's three-pointers this season, 156 of 166. They have also taken 419 of the 453 treys attempted.

IRON MEN
The trio of Cory Carr, Stan Bonewitz and Rayford Young is among the top five in the Big 12 in minutes played. No other Big 12 team has two players in the top five in playing time, much less, three. Carr didn't come off the floor at Colorado, playing all 50 minutes in the double overtime game. He just missed playing the entire game against Texas. He leads the Big 12 in minutes played with 37.5 per game. Bonewitz averages 36.0, while Young is right behind with 35.5. Bonewitz and Young each played 48 minutes at CU. Carr and Bonewitz also played all 40 minutes at Oklahoma, the only time this season two players have played the entire game.

FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
Texas Tech had improved its free throw shooting to 70.0 percent after the Colorado game. That changed, however, with a 55.2 performance (16-of-29) against Texas. The Red Raiders rank fourth in the league in free throw shooting at 69.2 percent. Prior to the UT game, Tech was shooting 80.9 from the stripe in its three previous contests. Cory Carr (88.5) ranks first in the league, while Rayford Young (86.0) is second.

CARR FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Although he leads the Big 12 in free throw shooting, the charity stripe has not been a popular place for Cory Carr during Tech's two-game losing streak. For the first time all season, Cory Carr missed three free throws, going 3-for-6 from the line at Colorado. He didn't go to the line at all against Texas. Prior to Wednesday at Colorado, Carr had missed as many as two free throws in only three games. Coincidentally, the CU game marked the first time Carr missed as many as three free throws since last year's Colorado game when he went 5-for-9 in the loss at Lubbock. The Big 12's leading free throw shooter, Carr is making 88.5 percent of his tries from the charity stripe. He is on track to break Gerald Myers' single-season mark of 86.9, set in 1957-58.

BACK FROM THE BRINK
Texas Tech made drastic second-half comebacks at Oklahoma and Baylor. At OU, the Red Raiders erased a 13-point halftime deficit and were down by 14 early in the second half. Tech also erased OU's nine-point lead in the final 2:13 of the game. Just three days earlier at Baylor, the Red Raiders were behind five points at halftime and by 11 with 13:31 to play in the game. Five times this year Tech has come back to win after being down by nine or more points.

HITTING THE 3
Texas Tech has made six or more three-pointers in the last 14 games. The Red Raiders have relied heavily on the three-point shot, especially in recent games. The Red Raiders have hit 10 or more treys in three of the last four games and five times overall this season. Tech has hit six or more 3's in 18 games, including in every conference game this season. Texas Tech is shooting 36.5 percent from beyond the arc, 38.8 in conference games. The Red Raiders are averaging 7.5 treys overall, 8.3 in conference games.

SHOOTING IS THE KEY
How Tech has performed from the field has been the most solid indicator of how the team fares on the scoreboard. Tech is 11-1 when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponents, 1-9 when the Red Raiders do not. Tech has shot 50% or better only three times in its 12 league games. Overall, Tech has hit 50 percent of its shots seven times this season and is undefeated in all of those games.

HARD TIME ON THE BOARDS
Texas Tech has been out-rebounded 15 times in its 22 games this season. The Red Raiders trail their opponents by a 3.7 margin, which ranks last in the Big 12. The offensive boards have been especially a problem for Tech. The Red Raiders only trail their foes 591-588 defensively. However, the opponents hold a 303-224 advantage on the offensive end. Tech lost last season's top two rebounders - Tony Battie and Gionet Cooper - who accounted for 50.8 percent of the Red Raiders' production on the boards.

BENCH HELP NEEDED
Texas Tech's bench outscored the Texas reserves by a 15-2 margin, the first time in nine games the Red Raiders have held the upper hand. Overall this season, Tech's subs have outscored the opponents' bench in only five games. Tech's bench is averaging 10.5 points, while the opponents are scoring at an 18.2 clip.

THE LINEUP
Texas Tech has started four different lineups this season. Most recnelty, head coach James Dickey has penciled in the starting five of forward Cliff Owens, center Johnny Phillips and guards Stan Bonewitz, Cory Carr and Rayford Young.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Texas Tech has utilized four different starting combinations this season, any of which would be among the youngest quintet in James Dickey's seven seasons as head coach. For the first time since the 1992-93 season, Texas Tech is starting only two upperclassmen. The Red Raiders have started at least two seniors for the majority of the campaign in all but three of James Dickey's seven seasons as head coach, 1992-93, 1993-94 and 1997-98.

STREAKING IN THE SECOND HALF

In its 12 victories, Texas Tech has made the most of the second half. The Red Raiders have trailed six times at halftime in those games. Only once in its 12 wins, against George Washington, has Tech shot worse in the second half than the first. Here's the breakdown in Tech's wins: Game Result Halftime 1st FG% 2nd FG% 1st Pts 2nd Pts

TOUGH AT HOME
Texas Tech has won 51 of its last 58 games in Lubbock Municipal Coliseum for an .879 winning percentage in the friendly confines since early in the 1993-94 season. Before 1996-97, the Red Raiders had not lost two games at home since the 1993-94 campaign. From 1993-94 against Texas A&M until the Colorado game last season, Texas Tech won a school-record 35 consecutive games at home. All-time, Texas Tech is 387-151 in the